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Is it normal for an airbag to deploy in a minor 20-mile-per-hour accident with only minor damage to the vehicle? This is the question that Lisa Cook, a Honda CR-V owner, is raising after her own experience.
Lisa Cook, in a Honda CR-V Community Facebook post, says she was in a minor fender bender, her airbag deployed unnecessarily, and now her car is being totaled because of it.
She reveals in photos what her 2016 Honda CR-V Touring looks like to prove her point. It’s hard to disagree with her.
This is what totaled looks like, she says.
I was in a minor fender bender. I rolled into another vehicle that seemed to be moving. I was creeping up, looking left for traffic coming to merge.
When the driver in front of me changed his mind about going and hit his brakes, it was less than 20 mph. My airbag shouldn’t have deployed. The only injury I sustained was from the airbag. It burned my thumb.
A single airbag deployment makes most vehicles unrepairable. I had to buy a new car because of an airbag issue, even though my CR-V was only 9 years old.
Honda ignored me when I asked questions about a needless and unwarranted deployment that sent my family into a financial tailspin.
Should an airbag deploy in a minor 20-mile-per-hour accident where there was only minor damage to the car?
The NHTSA says that generally, airbags are designed to deploy in moderate to severe crashes, not minor ones like a 20 mph accident with no damage. Airbags are designed to deploy when the force of impact is significant enough to potentially cause injury to the occupants, and a minor accident like this typically doesn’t meet that threshold.
Here’s why:
- Sensor systems: Airbags have sensors that measure the force of impact and determine if deployment is necessary. These sensors are calibrated to trigger in situations where the risk of injury is high.
- Not designed for minor impacts: Airbags are designed to protect occupants from hitting hard surfaces inside the car during a crash, such as the steering wheel, dashboard, or windshield. In minor accidents, the impact may not be severe enough to warrant airbag deployment.
- Potential for injury from deployment: Airbags deploy with considerable force, and in some cases, they can cause injury, particularly to smaller or more vulnerable occupants. Therefore, they are not deployed in minor accidents to avoid causing unnecessary harm.
- No damage, no need: In a 20 mph accident with no damage, the car’s structure likely absorbed the impact, and the occupants likely experienced minimal force, meaning the airbag wasn’t needed.
- Severity matters: The threshold for airbag deployment is usually equivalent to hitting a solid, fixed barrier at 8 to 14 mph or higher, or hitting a parked car of similar size at 16 to 28 mph or higher, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA.gov).
The seatbelt was enough to prevent injury.
Lisa continues, My seatbelt would prevent me from hitting the steering wheel. In fact, it did. I never even touched the airbag with my head or face. The only body part involved was my burned thumb due to my hand placement.
If I had been hit with triple the velocity from behind, my airbag would NOT have deployed.
I know this because almost exactly one year earlier, somebody hit my husband from behind on the freeway in this same vehicle. No airbag deployed. Despite that, he was driving at freeway speeds when he suddenly stopped.
There’s more to this story.
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My vehicle was in the repair shop for 3 weeks. The repair shop said they were repairing my vehicle. I kept getting updates that my car was in the metal shop. It was all a lie. They were desperately trying to find my airbag.
They couldn’t. Then the insurance company finally came back on board and said that it was too much money, too. It was all a disaster. I was in a rental car for 2 months. A lot of it was out of pocket. I had to buy a new car and spend about $1,500 on a rental car.
It has to do with the value of the vehicle.
Airbags are very expensive these days. It’s getting more expensive because it’s harder to get parts. The airbag alone was $4,500 of the repair. That’s if they could get hold of a sensor. I had contacts at Honda, but I still couldn’t find a sensor. I tried.
The sensor is not available until October. That’s the added piece.
I was able to do that if I got hold of the sensor to replace it. But even with close contacts at Honda, I couldn’t get anybody to acknowledge my need for the sensor.
If you look at all the recalls on vehicles, there are a ton of recalls for Honda frontal airbags. I guess they’re refusing to let the ones they have go out due to supply chain issues. They’re holding them for the recalls, which puts me out of luck. I tried for about a solid week before I gave in and let them take my vehicle. I just couldn’t find the sensor.
It’s all very shocking to have things happen so quickly. On top of that, I need my vehicle for my business. My business is very busy during the summer, and it wasn’t easy to be in a rental car. Then, when looking for a new vehicle, that was an added complication because I’m not even 5 ft tall. So, there are limited vehicles that I can drive comfortably. We made it through and purchased a new car.
My main reason for sharing this story was that I initially doubted the airbag should have deployed. The airbag deployment caused unnecessary distress in a situation where I made a mistake.
I don’t think it was a faulty airbag. I think it’s defective airbag sensor placements on Honda’s part.
Conclusion:
Lisa’s Honda CR-V was totaled because the cost of repairs exceeded its value, following an airbag deployment, and the sensor was on back order until October. However, she did not get any help from Honda Corporate.
Lisa needs to escalate her problem further with the insurance company and with Honda USA. Her car still has many years of life left, and she can’t drive it because parts are not available.
Lisa concludes, People keep saying that the airbag should have deployed, but it is not normal for the speeds I was driving to trigger it? Is it specific to Honda? More importantly, to a CRV? I did not buy another Honda after this experience.
What Would You Do in This Situation?
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Check out my Honda CR-V story: I’m Selling My Unreliable Honda CR-V and Buying A Toyota, My CR-V With Only 68K Miles Already Needs New Injectors at a Cost of $2,000
I am Denis Flierl, a Senior Torque News Reporter since 2012. My 30+ year tenure in the automotive industry, initially in a consulting role with every major car brand and later as a freelance journalist test-driving new vehicles, has equipped me with a wealth of knowledge. I specialize in reporting the latest automotive news, covering owner stories, and providing expert analysis, ensuring that you are always well-informed and up-to-date. Follow me on X @DenisFlierl, @WorldsCoolestRides, Facebook, and Instagram
Photo credit: Denis Flierl via Lisa Cook
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Source: torquenews.com
